Orientation week, site visits, group bonding experience

• May 29: Meet & Greet, pre-program survey, program overview, Lake Erie shoreline field trip
• May 30-31: Field trips including terrestrial system, aquatic system, and boat trip.
• May 31: Project planning with REU students, graduate student mentors & faculty mentors

Data collection and weekly workshops to build research skills

>Students work in research labs or in the field with faculty and graduate student mentors
>Wed. 12 pm each week: REU luncheon for all team members at the Lake Erie Center
>Wed. 1 pm each week, all REU team members: REU students give update on their progress; a graduate student mentor gives a short presentation on their thesis research 
>Wed. 2-4:30 pm each week: Joint project mentoring on the following topics, presented by a different faculty mentor each week:Week 2: Developing hypotheses, conducting literature reviews; brief tour LEC research labs

• Week 3: Experimental design; Cultural Experiences Icebreaker
• Week 4: Resumé writing, job interview skills, and STEM career panel
• Week 5: Data analysis 
• Week 6: Writing a scientific paper
• Week 7: Giving effective oral and poster presentations
• Week 8: Graduate school Q&A panel with faculty and graduate student mentors

• REU student project data analyses workshops led by graduate student mentors
• Poster presentation & paper writing help sessions

• REU student poster show & reception for faculty, students, agency personnel, community partners, visitors (Wednesday, July 31)
• REU student papers due Friday, August 2
• End of program evaluation exit survey Friday noon, followed by capstone lunch picnic